Barrel cleaning apparatus

ABSTRACT

An axially rigid extendable fluid dispensing mechanism for cleaning the interior of an oil drum. The mechanism consists of a nozzle which is inserted through a bunghole by a telescoping probe mechanism so that the nozzle can direct a plurality of streams of high velocity cleansing fluid against substantially the entire inner wall of the barrel. The nozzle is moved along the axis of the probe by a screw mechanism formed between nested cylinders used to form the probe mechanism.

Q 1 I V Unite States Patent 11 1 11 1 3,841,564

Farrington Oct. 15 M74 [54] BARREL CLEANING AlPPARATUS R13,966 8/1915 Burgess 239/281 [75] Inventor: Robert C. Farrington, Saint Paul, i

1 Minn Primary Exam1nerLloyd L. King Attorney, Agent, or FirmSchroede:r Siegfried Ryan & [73] Assignee: Timelilne lino, St. Paul, Minn. Vidas [22] Filed: Apr. 25, 11973 1211 Appl. N().I 354,245 [57] ABSTRACT An axially rigid extendable fluid dispensing mechas nism for cleaning the interior of an oil drum. The i g; mechanism consists of a nozzle which is inserted 58] Field 6 281 273 through a bunghole by a telescoping probe mechanism 5 6 so that the nozzle can direct a plurality of streams of high velocity cleansing fluid against substantially the [56] References Cited entire inner wall of the barrel. The nozzle is moved along the axis of the probe by a screw mechanism UNITED STATES PATENTS formed between nested cylinders used to form the 2,029,795 2/1936 Richard 239/227 probe mechanism.

2,082,330 6/1937 Frede etal 239/227 3,645,452 2 1972 Stoeckel et al. 239 227 3 Clams, 1 Drawlng Flgure 1. BARREL CLEANING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are numerous applications which require the insertion of a fluid delivering tube well into a large vessel through an orifice having a cross sectional area only slightly greater than the cross sectional area of the fluid delivering tube. A common industrial application which requires the use of such a device is found in the processes for the industrial reconditioning or cleaning of oil barrels. Several alternative processes are known in the art for the reconditioning of oil barrels by flushing their interior surface with cleansing fluid under pressure. Both caustic soda and ordinary water have been used as cleansing fluids in the various processes, but in all cases there is a problem in delivering the cleansing fluid to the interior of the drum so that a stream of the fluid can be directed to impinge on substantially the entire interior surface of the drum with sufficient force to provide an adequate cleansing action. To achieve this end, most systems have employed a rigid, fixed-length probe for insertion into the barrel through the bung. A problem present in such prior art systems lies in the use of a rigid, fixed-length probe which, when fully retracted from the barrel, requires a great deal of storage space relative to the total distance to which it must be extended into the barrel. Such prior art systems also require complex mechanisms to insert the probe into the barrel and direct the cleansing fluid over the entire surface of the interior wall and retract it at the end of the cleaning cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODlMENT My invention is a novel device which includes a fluid delivering probe which is particularly adaptable to drum washing as well as other related operations. Although the probe is substantially rigid when extended and inserted through the bunghole of a barrel, its novel construction allows it to be extracted from the barrel and, while a new barrel is moved into place, stored in a space having dimensions considerably smaller than the distance to which the probe was extended when fully inserted into the barrel.

The drawing is a cross sectional view of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

in the drawing a probe nozzle is attached to one end of an inner cylindrical shell 20. Nozzle 10 is preferably made of a stainless steel alloy hardened to resist the abrasive action of a high temperature, possibly caustic liquid which is forced through it under extreme pressures to perform the drum cleaning function. The pressures used for drum cleaning are typically in the range of 700 to 3,000 pounds per square inch. The

' exact pressure at which the system is operated as well as the exact configuration of the nozzle are selected in accordance with the characteristics of the material which is to be removed from the interior of the barrel. The temperature of the cleansing fluid will normally be in the range of l90-270 Fahrenheit.

The other end of the inner cylinder is to be connected to a high pressure hose 25. In the preferred embodiment, the inner cylindrical shell 20 has an outside diameter slightly less than l- /4 inches with a 9% inch inside diameter. The end to which the hose is to be connected is threaded to accept a nonrotating high pressure hose threaded connection. The hose is a commercially available k inch inside diameter reinforced high pressure hose capable of withstanding high temperatures. The hose may be bent readily but, because of its reinforcement characteristics, is relatively resistent to twisting along its access.

The exterior surface of the inner cylindrical shell 20 carries one or more spiral grooves cut into its surface. Where the outside diameter of the inner cylindrical shell is approximately 1% inches, the spiral may have a typical radius of 0.125 inches with a pitch of approximately 1 to 1V2 inches. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1 two such spirals are cut into the surface, with the beginning point at the nozzle end for each of the spirals displaced by 180. Two or more such spirals may be cut into the surface of the interior cylindrical shell 20.

The inner cylindrical shell 20 is enclosed by a cylindrical shell 30. Cylindrical shell 30 has been drilled and tapped with two holes 20 into which hardened ball bearings 50 are inserted; The ball bearings have a diameter slightly less than that of the hole 40. in the assembled probe mechanism, each of the ballbearings 50 is aligned with and rests in one of the milled spiral grooves cut into the inner surface of cylindrical shell 20. In the preferred embodiment, the cylindrical shell 30 has an inside diameter of approximately 1%. inches and an outside diameter slightly less than 1% inches. Thus the ball bearings 50 when in contact with the spiral grooves on inner cylindrical shell 20 have approximately one-half of their diameter residing in the hole 40. The ball bearings 50 are held in place by threaded ball retainers which are hardened steel plugs having a rounded surface in contact with ball bearing 50 and acting to snugly urge ball bearing 50 into a rolling contact between cylindrical shell 30 and inner cylindrical shell 20.

Cylindrical shell 30 also includes two to four spiral grooves similar to those out into the surface of inner cylindrical shell 20. Cylindrical shell 30 is enclosed within an outer cylindrical shell 70. Outer cylindrical shell has also been drilled with holes which are identical to the holes 40 drilled and tapped in cylindrical shell 30. Additional ball bearings are inserted in holes 80 and held in place by ball retainers in exactly the same manner as ball retainers 60 were used in the cylindrical shell 30. The ball bearings 90 rest in the spiral grooves which are cut into the outer surface of cylindrical shell 30.

The outer cylindrical shell 70 is loosely held at the end near the probe nozzle 10 by a sleeve which allows the outer cylindrical shell 70 to rotate about its axis but holds it firmly in place to prevent movement of the A-A' axis.

The other end of the outer cylindrical shell 70 is connected to a frame by means of roller thrust bearings 140. The roller thrust bearings allow rotation of the outer cylindrical shell 70 about its axis A-A' but do not allow motion of the A-A axis itself relative to the frame 120.

A sprocket is axially mounted about the outer cylindrical shell 70 and is connected by either a chain or a gear to a drive sprocket or gear 150 so that the sprocket can be driven by a source of power.

When the sprocket l30-is rotated by a chain or drive gear connected to drive sprocket or gear 150, outer cylindrical shell 70 is rotated about the axis A-A', causing ball bearings 90 to also rotate about the A-A axis and rotate cylindrical shell 30 about the A-A axis at the same time. The inner cylindrical shell 20 is not rotated about the axis because its connection to the high pressure hose makes it relatively impervious to rotation about the A-A axis and its connection to the outer cylindrical shell is by means of the ball bearing spiral groove interfaces. Thus, there is a relative rotation between cylindrical shell 30 and the inner cylindrical shell 20. The cooperative interaction of the ball bearings 50 and the spiral grooves on the inner cylindrical shell 20 thereby results in a translation of the probe nozzle and the inner cylindrical shell along the A-A axis. This translation will continue until the ball bearings 50 have reached the end of the spiral grooves cut into the surface of the inner cylindrical shell 20. When the end 5 of the spiral is reached, the ball bearing connection between the inner cylinder 20 and cylinder acts as a rigid connection between the two cylindrical shells and causes a relative rotation to begin between outer cylindrical shell 70 and cylindrical shell 30. The cooperative interaction of the ball 90 and the spiral grooves cut into the outer surface of cylindrical shell 30 results in a further translation of the probe nozzle 10 and the inner cylindrical shell 20 as well as a translation of cylindrical shell 30 along the A-A' axis. The translation can be continued by continuing rotation of the outer cylindrical shell 70 until the desired penetration of the probe nozzle 10 into the barrel orifice has been attained. After the desired penetration has been attained, the probe can be retracted to its initial configuration by reversing the direction of rotation of the outer cylindrical shell 70 about the A-A' prime axis. Since the penetration of the probe into the barrel is directly proportional to the extent of the rotation about the A-A' axis, the amount of translation of probe nozzle 10 can be readily measured by measuring the angular displacement of either sprocket 130 or 150.

Other variations of the preferred embodiment of my invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art. It is my intention to limit my invention only by the claims below.

I claim:

1. In a device for cleaning the interior surface of an enclosed vessel having a small orifice including means for supplying fluid under pressure, a hose connected at one end to said means to carry fluid therefrom, a nozzle connected to the other end of said hose to receive fluid therefrom and deliver the fluid in a plurality of spatially separated streams of fluid and probe means to retractably advance said nozzle into the vessel through the orifice and direct streams against the interior surface of the enclosed vessel wherein said probe means comprises:

an inner cylindrical shell connected at one end to said hose and at the other end to said nozzle, said inner cylindrical shell having a spiral groove inscribed on its outer surface;

an outer cylindrical shell, coaxial with an enclosing said inner cylindrical shell, said outer cylindrical shell slidably coupled to said inner cylindrical shell by projections from its inner surface which ride in the spiral grooves inscribed on the outer surface of said inner cylindrical shell; and

means rotating said outer cylindrical shell about its axis thereby said inner cylindrical shell to be advanced axially because of the cooperative screw action between the projections on said outer cylindrical shell and the spiral groove inscribed on the outer surface of said inner cylindrical shell.

2. A device as described in claim 1 wherein the projections on said outer cylindrical shell are formed by insertion of a ball bearing into a hole drilled through said shell with said bearing maintained in a projecting position by a threaded plug inserted in said hole.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means rotating said outer cylinder about its axis comprises:

a sprocket axially mounted on said outer cylinder;

a drive sprocket connected to a reversible source of rotary power; and

a chain linking said sprocket and said drive sprocket to transmit rotation of said drive sprocket to said sprocket to cause said outer cylinder to rotate about its axis and advance said inner cylindrical shell along its axis. 

1. In a device for cleaning the interior surface of an enclosed vessel having a small orifice including means for supplying fluid under pressure, a hose connected at one end to said means to carry fluid therefrom, a nozzle connected to the other end of said hose to receive fluid therefrom and deliver the fluid in a plurality of spatially separated streams of fluid and probe means to retractably advance said nozzle into the vessel through the orifice and direct streams against the interior surface of the enclosed vessel wherein said probe means comprises: an inner cylindrical shell connected at one end to said hose and at the other end to said nozzle, said inner cylindrical shell having a spiral groove inscribed on its outer surface; an outer cylindrical shell, coaxial with an enclosing said inner cylindrical shell, said outer cylindrical shell slidably coupled to said inner cylindrical shell by projections from its inner surface which ride in the spiral grooves inscribed on the outer surface of said inner cylindrical shell; and means rotating said outer cylindrical shell about its axis thereby said inner cylindrical shell to be advanced axially because of the cooperative screw action between the projections on said outer cylindrical shell and the spiral groove inscribed on the outer surface of said inner cylindrical shell.
 2. A device as described in claim 1 wherein the projections on said outer cylindrical shell are formed by insertion of a ball bearing into a hole drilled through said shell with said bearing maintained in a projecting position by a threaded plug inserted in said hole.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means rotating said outer cylinder about its axis comprises: a sprocket axially mounted on said outer cylinder; a drive sprocket connected to a reversible source of rotary power; and a chain linking said sprocket and said drive sprocket to transmit rotation of said drive sprocket to said sprocket to cause said outer cylinder to rotate about its axis and advance said inner cylindrical shell along its axis. 